The Human Emotion Called 'Love'
by FatalBlow
Summary: The 3 year long journey to meet up with everyone in the new session proved to be a long and boring one, and one that was particularly lonely for a certain angry troll. Surrounded by 'sloppy human/troll make outs', Karkat wiles away the hours in the lab's deep recesses. However, during a casual nap, he ends up in a fateful meeting with an old friend. A series of Homestuck oneshots.
1. The Human Emotion Called 'Love'

**WARNING: KARKAT'S LANGUAGE IS ATROCIOUS!**

**Note: I changed this chapter, mainly taking out the ending and changing the title. I think I like this shortened version better. :P**

* * *

**The Human Emotion Called 'Love'**

There was absolutely no fucking way that this fucking trip could get any fucking worse. All around him, Karkat could only see his fellow fucking travel companions unable to keep their fucking hands off of each other. It really was fucking pathetic. Even Gamzee had those fucking bodies, although that was just fucking creepy and he decided to just not think about it. And now he and Terezi were kismeses, too.

Added on top of it all there was pretty much nothing to do. How many days had he spent locked up in his chosen respite block wiling away the hours watching shitty romcoms, both human and troll creations alike? How many hours could he possibly spend lazing around Can Town or helping with its pointless and never ending expansion? How many times had he read and re-read those fucking romance books? Surely enough that he could recite them word for fucking word.

Oh god he was so bored. He'd really just started lazing on his bed staring up at the ceiling for hours on end because apparently that was all there was to do around here. Sometimes he even wished that a dream bubble would come along so he could distract himself by getting pissing mad at his stupid fucking ancestors.

Hell, he'd even read that big ass book Rose and Kanaya were tag teaming on. A bit heavy handed, but it provided a suitable distraction. Except when he came to parts where Rose was obviously writing drunk, at which point he closed the tome and simply walked away. It made him miss GrubTube, another mindless form of entertainment from his days on Alternia.

He found the irony of everyone on the ship having someone to smooch puke worthy, yet hilarious at the time. He was supposed to be the romance expert and had given advice on countless occasions, advice that apparently worked because they kept on crawling back to him, and yet when he actually got down to it he floundered like a fish on land.

He'd moped for a while after his major fuck up with Terezi, but forced himself to get over it. He knew that he'd eternally lost his chance with her, and he wasn't going to try and redeem himself or anything. However, he knew that one day he was going to have to confront her about her relationship with Gamzee, because it definitely wasn't a healthy one.

All this thinking about troll/human relationships, though, had him thinking about a certain girl who also happened to be part dog, now. Jade had floated through his thoughts on occasion. He'd even used one of her passwords as a password to the vault he kept his memories hidden in when he visited dream bubbles. And now, with weary acceptance, he knew that, although clearly showing his opposition to cross species pairings, he had been waxing red feelings for her and, admittedly, still was.

"Jegus," he muttered, rolling onto his back to stare up at the ceiling of the lab.

He was in his respite block at the moment, the one thing that reminded him of Alternia. Although compared to his old room it was admittedly bare except for the few things he deemed sentimental. This also included a human bed that he was currently laying on. Recuperacoons were just too...bulky. And apparently took a helluva lot of grist to make? He would never understand the whims of paradox space and its ridiculous achemelization prices.

When he sat up, though, he immediately saw that things were different. The wall with his door was gone, leading out into rolling green fields. He sat there, a little dumbfounded, until he realized that he must have fallen asleep. Instead of being thrown right into a memory, though, he had simply woken up in his room. Or dream room. Whatever you wanted to call it.

All he really wanted to do was just stay in the bed and ignore the memory that so audaciously invaded his own. Yet, there was something familiar about the fields, dotted with the occasional flowers here and there. He got up and left behind his respite block in favour of exploring this memory. When he stepped into the open, though, the familiarity grew stronger.

The frog ruins in the island's bay were the big tip off, though. Not to mention the volcano and the tall white tower that had once housed the human that he had just been thinking about. The will of the Furthest Ring seemed to be just as whimsical as that of paradox space in general. He shook his head, deciding that it was better if he didn't think about it. Why was he getting excited, anyways? It was probably just some alternate timeline Jade.

"Karkat? Is that you?" a voice said from behind.

He turned to see, BIG FUCKING SURPRISE, none other than Jade Harley. Less of a surprise? This wasn't just a dead alternate timeline version of her, either. No, this was the honest to god alive as all fucking hell Jade Harley, all dressed up in her black god jammies and sporting a pair of fluffy ears. No blank eyes, just the pretty emerald green that had so caught his own gaze.

"Harley?" he said, still dumbstruck. She, seeing his own gaze, grinned.

"It is you! For a while, I thought I wouldn't see anyone in the dream bubbles!" she said excitedly as she bounced over to him. "In fact, John, Dave, and I barely get to visit the bubbles at all!"

"What? Dave?" he said in genuine confusion.

"Sorry, uh, Davesprite," she corrected herself. She seemed a little melancholy when she said that.

"Oh, okay." Dammit, competition. Wait, why'd he just think that? "Is your trip as boring as ours?" Quickly redirecting because he didn't like where that thought train may be headed.

"At times," she admitted with a chuckle. "The only people I really have to talk to are John and Davesprite, the rest of them are those crocodiles and salamanders. Don't get me wrong, they're really cute! But the crocodiles really like taking my stuff and the salamanders' spit bubbles tend to make messes. I guess it doesn't really help that Davesprite and I aren't talking much, either..."

"What? Why?" It explained the sadness when she mentioned him. Helpful Karkat mode activated.

"Well, um... You see, we were dating for a while," she said. "But he kind of broke up with me. It's a little awkward, but I suppose he had his reasons."

"Douche," Karkat muttered beneath his breath.

"Karkat!" she exclaimed. "He is not! He told me that's he's going through some stuff right now!" He shrugged. "Anyways, that happened months ago. I'm not even really that sad about it. I'm more sad that it's just not the same between us. Not even what it was before we started dating, and I kind of miss it.

"It's funny," she said, actually starting to laugh. "John had the same reaction about it! Except he pulled a full blown tantrum and fell asleep in his driveway, which was really weird! To be fair, I think he's going a bit stir crazy on the boat, so I don't blame him. I think all of us are feeling that way, including you guys."

"Ugh, you can say that again," he growled. "I think I've watched all the movies we have on that damn meteor three times each..."

"Hey, if you need more movies, I have codes!" she offered excitedly. "I wrote them down so we could alchemize some to keep the salamanders busy, they really like John's favourites! I could give them to you!"

"I don't need your shitty human movies," he snapped. She'd already pulled out a marker, however, and grabbed his left arm. "H-Hey, what the fuck are you doing?!"

"Calm down," she chimed, tugging at his sleeve. "I'm going to write them on your arm. Hopefully they'll follow you when you wake up."

"No, wait-"

He tried to stop her, but she already tugged away the cuff of his shirt. Her breath caught in her throat and he wrenched his arm away, quickly covering up several cut scars he'd given himself. He looked away, gritting his teeth in a mixture of embarrassment and shame. There was a reason he only wore long sleeved shirts and sweaters.

"Karkat... I'm so sorry..." Jade whispered. "I didn't realize, I should have asked..."

"No, it's fine..." he said. His attempt at gruffness failed. "Just old shit, I guess." He shrugged, trying to pretend it didn't matter when it really did.

"They did look old," she agreed. "Are they...what I think they are?"

"What? Do humans have this too, then?" he said, looking at her in surprise. She nodded.

"I remember John actually telling me about one of his friends from school that did that. Apparently they were going through some tough things at the time. Is it...the same for you?" she asked.

Oh god, he hated this. He wasn't one to open up to someone and really all he wanted to do was shrink away from her friendly openness and change the subject. Not even Terezi, the one person he considered to be his closest friend, knew about these scars. How he'd been such a wreck all those sweeps ago that he'd actually stooped to this level.

He liked to forget the many times he'd watched the cherry redness coating his arm. At the time, it had almost been...soothing, in a way. The pain of the cuts a welcome distraction that he would later regret. Addiction was a powerful, and dangerous, thing. An addiction like this could have cost him everything, had he gone deep enough...

He looked down at his feet, unable to really look at her. She had just seen a moment of weakness, a time when he had been on the verge of giving up. Her eyes bored into him. Yet, through peripheral, all he saw was sympathy in their green depths. No, not quite that, this was not so...insulting. An attempt to understand, rather. To emphasize, though he knew that she had never gone through such things.

"Yeah, I guess," he mumbled. "It was pretty rough when I realized that I was different from everyone else. That I was...unwanted. It was terrifying that if anyone found out I'd be culled. Ugh, look, Jade, it happened a long time ago. It's old news, okay? Here, just... Use this arm," he said, offering up his right for her to write on. Fortunately, she said no more on the matter.

"Meeting you here is pretty great birthday present, actually," she commented as she finished writing the codes down.

Birthday? Oh, that's right, humans actually celebrated that. Shit, he should have gotten her a gift... Yeah, okay, that was just stupid, obviously he couldn't plan for that shit and he couldn't bring stuff into the dream bubbles anyways. So he muttered a quick 'celebratory' happy birthday wishing, to which she gave him a pleasant thanks. He would expect nothing less of her, really.

"You're the first living person I've seen from the meteor! How is everyone, anyways?"

"Good. Except for sloppy troll/human make outs galore," he hissed. "Fucking Dave and Rose can't keep their hands off of us."

"Really? Do you have an eye on anyone?" she asked curiously.

"Fuck no," he snapped, maybe a little too quickly. "I don't give two fucks about anyone on that fucking meteor. Even Gamzee up and fucking let our moirallegiance fall apart."

"Oh, that sucks," she murmured. "So no crushes in any, erm, quadrant?"

"No," he said. "They're all too busy with each other, anyways."

"Sounds lonely."

"...Yeah..."

Now that he thought about it, he really did feel like the 'fifth wheel', as the humans put it. He supposed that Meenah had been pretty good company for a while. He could tell that she was probably waxing red feelings for him, but he really couldn't bring himself to reciprocate. Sure, she was cool and all, but... To be honest, he really didn't know what was wrong with him, ignoring what could have been a possible matesprit. Maybe it was because she was older. Or maybe that she was dead.

"Can I show you something?" she asked suddenly.

"Um..." he hesitated a second, then nodded. Smiling, she gently took his hand and led the way. It was soft, cool to the touch. He was a bit too preoccupied by the sensation to realize that the landscape was changing drastically.

Next thing he knew, they were floating above Prospit, a city he had only seen once. Jade was now dressed in her golden gown, and he had his own golden pyjamas on, too.

"You were a Prospit dreamer?" she asked.

"Yeah. I woke up just before Jack came and fucking destroyed it," he said bitterly.

She looked genuinely saddened by this, and he wished he hadn't told her just so the smile would return. Fortunately, she wasn't frowning for long.

"Well, now you can see it... With me!" she said enthusiastically. "I can show you all my favourite places and everything!"

And so she took him on a tour of the golden city, now populated by the ghosts of Jade's memories and, occasionally, the death and destruction he had seen in his own brief visit. He tried not to let them taint the purity that Jade so kindly presented him, but he couldn't help it. The terror, the chaos, _Jack_ flashed before his eyes with every step. He forced himself to forget it, though, and as the tour went on his memories affected the dream bubble less and less.

He was disappointed when he needed to leave.

"Jade, you won't tell anyone about..." Glancing down at his arms.

"Of course not!" she said. "I won't tell a soul!" He actually, actually, forced a smile for her, tiny though it was.

"Thanks. I think I'm about to wake up, so... See you soon. Hopefully before we meet up in the new session?" he ventured. She grinned at him.

"That would be fun! I'd love to show you around more! That is, if I wasn't boring you too much, Karkat!" she laughed.

"No, you weren't. I never got to see it myself. It's pretty cool," he said, trying to be nonchalant about it. Throwing in a shrug for good measure.

"Okay, I'll look forward to it!" she said happily. "Have fun with your movies."

"Yeah."

She hesitated a second before giving him a quick peck on the cheek. He looked at her in shock, but before he could say anything he woke up. He sat up and looked around, but it was obvious that he was no longer dreaming.

_Oh god, did she just...?_

His hand raised to brush the cheek she had kissed, which had gone red. His heart jumped in his chest. Now he really hoped to see her in the dream bubbles soon. Fat chance that would happen, though. Hell, with his luck, she'd probably be fucking evil the next time he saw her. Ha, that would be kind of funny, he actually kind of laughed at that out loud. That was stupid, though. Jade would never go evil.

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I'm sure that all my normal readers are genuinely surprised, and perhaps even a little concerned, by this odd, unheard of non-Bleach fanfiction. Don't worry, I'll still be plowing right on ahead with Past Melodies. However, dabbling in other fandoms has proved an interesting experience. You can definitely expect to see more of it later on! *insert heart here!*


	2. A Failure of Duty

**It seems that there are a lot of short stories written about the 'Seek the Highblood' minigame from Homestuck based on the author's take on it. Well, I've decided to do something a little different, to switch it up a little. In this little scenario I've concocted, our favourite kitty stumbles upon the murderous clown before Equius...**

**As an added note: If you have an idea for a short story/one shot for a few Homestuck characters, feel free to review the story and include what you want me to write about next. Just give me the characters and the situation and I will try my best to write out a little short story based around that. ^.^ Thank you to anyone who ends up being brave enough to do so!**

**WARNING: Violence, blood, and lots and lots of feeeeeeeels.**

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**A Failure of Duty**

Normally, he could not defy the highblood. When Karkat's message had come to him, he had looked upon it with disdain. How could he ever raise a finger against that uncouth slob? It seemed that Makara was finally coming into his roll, actually. But his message was urgent, pleading. The mutant blood even stooped so low as to order him to do it. He needed to learn his place. And yet...the way he commanded such respect...

He needed a towel.

"Equius?"

He looked over at his moirail, Nepeta. The perfect example of any lowblood, obedient, serving as his lesser half. Though he would only admit in private that she was one of his only friends, the only person he had to talk to on this damned, excuse the language, meteor. She'd comforted him after Aradia had blown up, after he had been admittedly distraught by her mixed up farewell.

"The highblood has gone on a rampage," he told her. "Vantas has ordered me to apprehend him and put a stop to his murderous tendencies."

No one knew him better than Nepeta and he could see within her eyes what she was thinking. She knew as well as he that it would take a great deal of motivation for him to raise a finger against Makara due to his exquisitely purple blood. Finally, she shook her head and smiled.

"I'm not sure I can believe it, really!" she laughed.

"Most likely due to the fact that you refuse to look upon the hemospectrum as the deciding behoovioural factors that they are," he chastised, giving her a stern look. One of the stern looks that never really seemed to get through to her. Instead, she gave him a weird look.

"Be_hoov_ioural?" she questioned.

"Behavioural," he corrected himself quickly. "My apologies, my heart is galloping at a mile a minute and I canter nunciate..." He shook his head. "The horst I mean worst case scenario is upon us." He was trying to be serious, but it was all Nepeta could do to contain her laughter.

"This is a serious matter, Nepeta," he growled irritably. "His blood is the richest of all land dwellers. He is prone to be the most violent and unpredictable of all of us. I can not say that I am surprised that he has gone off on this rampage." He let loose a tiny, and perhaps sheepish, smile. "And I suppose not all of us are blessed with a moirail such as I. I am not sure what I would be without you, Nepeta."

He was surprised when she pounced on him, hugging him tightly. Not enough to send him to the floor, his stance was too _strong_ for that. She gave him a huge grin.

"Oh thank you, Equius! You know I'll always be ready to pounce you when you start getting furrious!" she exclaimed happily. "And you're always here to make sure I do the right thing, too!"

"Yes and it is for that reason that I hold your protection in the highest of priorities. I would not have the highblood targeting you, next. You _will,_ under any circumstance, avoid the highblood and any other whose behaviour has turned volatile since the time we entered this lab. Do you understand?"

"W-Well, if you mean Vwiskers, I mean Vriska, I'm already kind of scared of her..." she admitted with a slight stutter to her tone. "And Ampurra!" she snarled. "That guy really gives me the creeps, he always looks at me all funny and I don't like it! But what do I do if I see any of them, Equius?"

"You have proved yourself adept at moving around this lab," he told her. "I am sure you can find a suitable place where they would not be able to reach you."

"Where do you think I should hide?" she said, seemingly excited by the game.

"It is you who excels at such things, not I," he told her. "I trust your best judgement."

"Okay! I think I can do that!" she purred, giving a close eyed smile. His shoulders drooped a bit, and he gave her a sad look.

"I will now seek out the highblood, then," he said. "Hide, just like I told you to." She gave him a tiny nod.

"Okay, Equius. I promise I'll do my best to stay out of the way!"

"Nepeta, I would like to take the opportunity now to...to say goodbye," he said quietly. She frowned, her eyes going downcast. But she forced a smile for him.

"Well, okay, goodbye! But I better see you soon, Equius! Oh, and take this!" She removed her cat hood, handing it to him. He looked at the object smirking up at him with its cat-like grin. When he looked up to thank her, she was already gone, leaving him to search out Gamzee on his own.

* * *

Equius was right, she really did know all the great hiding places. One of her favourites, though, were the vents, which she was the purrfect size for! She loved to crawl into them and run through the maze, spying on people and acting like a hunter stalking her prey. Many a times had she pounced on the inhabitants of the meteor, including Karkat. His reaction had been the funniest, and she blushed to think that that was why she liked him so much!

Of course, she should probably stay put. Equius might get mad if he found out that she was recklessly scurrying around in the vents! But, with a conspiratorial glance to make sure he had already left, she removed the grate and crawled inside. Her many trips into the air ducts had cleared them of the dust, but her nose still twitched, threatening to make her sneeze as she began her journey.

Making her ways through the air ducts, she came upon more grates on the way. At one point, she looked through and gasped. Oh no, look at Purrezi, er, Terezi's, poor stuffed animals! They were all torn up and thrown everywhere! She remembered the hours she and the blind troll had spent role playing with those and was saddened to see them so brutally murdered.

"Aw, Purrezi always says they deserve justice, but I don't think she meant it like that!" she lamented quietly to herself.

But the stuffed dragons were quickly forgotten as she moved on. She froze mid step, though, when she was sure that she heard...squeaking? Her ears perked up when she heard it again, the sound of a small rodent scrabbling against the metal of the air ducts. How lucky! She could have a little snack while she was waiting!

She entered stalking mode as she crept down the vents, following the slight sounds of her prey. She grinned when she peeked around the corner and saw it, nibbling on something or another with its back to her, facing yet another grate. She slowly got herself into position, wriggling her rump a little, and pounced.

The cheesecritter squealed in surprise as Nepeta caught it between her claws. She soon realized, though, that she had no grip in these tunnels and went barrelling through the grate. She managed to hold onto her prize, though, and opened her hands a little to watch it squirm. She was about to indulge when a shadow fell over her.

"HONK HONK... peasantblood..."

* * *

Equius knew this part of the lab fairly well. A glance told him that the highblood was no where to be seen, and had not been through this area. Yet. As he continued his search, though, pressing deeper and deeper into the lab, he stumbled upon what appeared to be broken glass containers, containing the many experiments that occasionally got out and needed to be taken care of. A little further exploration down the hallway to the right, though, led him to discover where one of the experiments had gone missing.

The huge, 12 times prototyped beast lay dead in the middle of the hall. A single jump brought him to the creatures face. Imbedded deeply within its eye sockets were two arrows, shot true with unmatched precision. He stared, in awe of whoever could perform such a feat that he could not. There appeared to be blood on the arrows... None of it purple, though. Brown, violet, and a pinkish colour, but that was all that decorated the shaft. It could be anyone of the murderers running around the lab at the moment.

Paying a silent prayer to the mighty hoofbeast, he continued on his search. Only he and Nepeta ventured down these parts. The lighting was dim, and the floor tiles reflected back an eerie red colour that was more discerning than usual. It set the mood, he acknowledged. Even he, with all his strength, felt nervous. The highblood was most certainly crafty.

Suddenly, all the lights cut out. It took a second for his natural night vision to kick in. Gosh darn it, he needed another towel. His heart was racing. The quietness seemed to magnify the rushing of the blue blood through his veins. If only he could hear the blood of others, so he may sense if the highblood were nearby.

It seemed that his anxiety had left him distracted, though. His foot caught on something and he was unable to retain his footing, crashing to the floor. He landed in a pool of something...something warm. Its colour was indiscernible in the darkness, but he was almost sure that it was blood. It had already begun to cool, so he could not tell the colour from its warmth. He had only one option, and he couldn't help but fear the worse.

Slowly, he turned, kneeling in the warm pool of blood, to face the body he had tripped over. He removed his glasses, his eyes tracing over the slight, feminine form of his moirail. Viciously beaten to the point where bones had been broken and livid bruises, faint in the dark, had formed. With shaky hands, he gently lifted Nepeta's broken body off the ground. He dared not to hold her to him for fear of harming her further.

The faint rise and fall of her chest was nigh unseeable. Whoever had done this had seen fit to keep her alive and lit her die a slow death. Her eyes opened a slit, glowing yellow in the dark. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but a trickle of blood trail down her chin instead. He could only stare. Blue tears slipped down his face.

"Nepeta..." he murmured. "The...highblood...?"

"THAT'S RIGHT MOTHERFUCKER!" a voice chuckled from behind him. Equius released his moirail, whipping around to face the uncouth noble. Gamzee's face paint had long been smeared and ruined, but it only served to make the wicked grin on his face all the more frightening. "her blood... IS A RUNNING MOTHERFUCKING JOKE... and now... IT'S RUNNING THROUGH MY FINGERS!" he crowed.

"I demand that you stand down, highblood," Equius snarled. An unrestrained kind of rage coursed through his veins. "Or I will kill you."

"i demand that you... KNEEL MOTHERFUCKER!" Gamzee snarled, stalking closer. In his hands was a bow.

He could not let the unspeakable acts against his moirail go unpunished. He met the highblood's loathing gaze, his hands clenching into tight fists. No longer did this troll's blood matter. All he saw was the lazy slob who had never saw fit to truly be integrated into the ranks of true aristocracy, who indulged in his drink and his pie, leaving him in a haze of muddled thoughts most days.

Whatever had possessed this monster to attack Nepeta the moment that haze cleared, though, did Equius in. His moirail had been nothing but kind to the purple blood. It was he who had treated him with disdain, loathed him for his disgusting habits. He crushed his glasses in his hand, his gaze alit with fury. She did not deserve this.

"I will not," Equius growled. Gamzee's lip twitched into a disgusted sneer.

"kneel peasantblood," he ordered. Equius did not budge. "I SAID MOTHERFUCKING KNEEL!"

He notched the arrow and drew the string back, aiming for his heart. Equius was quicker, leaping forward and slamming his fist into Gamzee's face. There was no way even the highblood could compete against his strength. The clown slammed into the wall on the other end of the room, stunned for a second. A single strong jump brought Equius to stand before him.

Wrenching the bow from the clown's hands, he dealt him the same courtesy that he had dealt Nepeta not too long ago. When the bow was no more, he proceeded to use his fists. He'd never actually beaten something, or someone, so badly. He'd always had Nepeta their to calm him down. The brief thought of his dieing, possibly dead, moirail caused his anger to surge.

By the time exhaustion dragged at him, he was covered in purple blood. Gamzee was no more than a bloody pulp, mostly unidentifiable save the blood colour. This time, the clown was down, and it was with 100% certainty that Equius knew he would not be getting up. A little numb from this murder, he turned and plodded over to Nepeta.

She'd stopped breathing long ago. He cradled her in his arms for a long time. At one point, the lights came back on. Hesitant footsteps could be heard, but he was frozen in his grief. Shocked, even, as he stared down at his moirail in disbelief. Silent murmurings told him that the others had arrived and were now gathered around Gamzee's body.

"Equius?" someone whispered from behind. They kept their distance, and with good reason.

"The highblood is dead," the blue blood said in a tone void of emotion. "Have I pleased you by fulfilling this duty, mutant blood?"

"U-Uh... Yeah..." Karkat said, clearly put off. "Is that... Oh god, is that...?"

He said nothing. The question was answered by his silence.

"I think... I think we should head up top," Terezi whispered. "We don't want to miss the beacon."

"Yeah," Karkat agreed. "Equius, are you..."

"No," was his immediate reply. They left without another word.

"I have failed you, Nepeta."


	3. Never Let Go

**On Sword Dancer Sapphy's request, I present to thee Sollux and Aradia! I took a bit of a different approach to this one, but I am pleased with the result overall. ^^ In any case, thank you for the lovely reviews! If you want to see a short story written about your favourite pairing (or trio!) in any quadrant, please leave your request in the reviews, and don't forget to tell me what you think of my work!**

**As for this story, here we have Sollux dredging up old memories when he sees Aradia alive, well, and a god tier, no less! Written in first person for ultimate affect.**

**WARNINGS: Some language, some feels, but not too much violence.**

* * *

**Never Let Go**

It'd been a long time since I'd seen her. Or, at least, the real her, not a fake that had usurped her position as real, the hollow husk of a once beautiful personality. I tried to be nonchalant about it all, but I couldn't wrench my gaze away from her. To see the life in her eyes renewed... It gave me a light feeling that I'd never experienced before. Not even after the voices of doom had left me when I'd gone blind.

Fucking Eridan.

But those wings... She could only be a god tier. I wasn't going to question that, because I was sure that all I would get was some ridiculous fucking explanation. Didn't she say something about not having a dream self? No, I wasn't going to question her mortality right now. It just wasn't the fucking time. I was just going to be happy that she was here now. I can't help but return her kind smile.

I hadn't been this happy since that terrible incident.

Yeah, that's sufficient enough to ruin my mood a little. I really can't look at her without the smallest bit of guilt. Though I'd been under that witch's influence, and I'm she fully intended to wipe my mind afterwards, her control had lapsed at the last second. I woke up in my hive with fragments and vague memories of what had happened, and I thought at the time they were convoluted dreams. These fragments plague me to this day.

To begin, I remember that AA was outside, her face the picture of glee when she spotted me. These are the clearest parts of my memories, seeing her looking up at me with that huge grin. I might have been fucking wooed if my mind wasn't such a fucking mess, with a third contributing factor there to fuck shit up. She looked pleasantly surprised by my 'visit', for I had not mentioned one beforehand. She raised a hand to wave.

"Sollux!" she yelled out her greeting.

But she obviously knew something was wrong as I floated closer in grim silence, I could see her expression turn to confusion. Her eyes first fixated on my glasses, which I had taken off. Then, on the mind honey jar in my other hand. Finally, the stains of said honey around my mouth. I had told her the consequences of the honey.

Do not, under any circumstance, eat the mind honey.

Things get pretty vague after that, and no amount of searching can bring those memories back to where I can see them. I don't think I really want to remember, though. For the parts I do remember, my vision was clouded by rage, not my own but that of my manipulator. It is the clearest thing I remember from this point. The rest of my sight is obscured by the static as I, and she, loses the tight hold on my powers.

The witch had a presence in my mind, and I could feel the anger coming off that presence in violent waves. AA had done something to her, something this vengeful bitch wouldn't, couldn't, take lying down. Of course, there weren't many things that she wouldn't feel the need the take revenge for, but to take these actions... The crime had been severe.

The memories got a bit more clear as her control began to lapse. Towards the end of the rampage of which I was the means is when I was free, but only briefly. There is nothing left of her hive, and surely her lusus had been killed as well. I was under no illusions that AA, too, had perished, but I searched for her regardless while I free of that bitch. I was distraught; I _needed_ to find her. Before my search could become thorough, though, her grip tightened around me. I remember nothing after that.

Despite initially passing it off as dreams, I was still worried. As I aged, my premonitions of doom had become more frequent... And more accurate. Had this been a vision of a murder I would commit? I couldn't really think of anything worse that killing AA. Besides, perhaps, KK, she was my closest friend. And perhaps something more? I'd rather she fucking kill me before that happened.

I messaged her as soon as I was able. The power output had left me drained and utterly exhausted. My concern proved stronger in this bodily struggle.

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

TA: aa

TA: aa are you there?

TA: oh god aradiia plea2e an2wer me

AA: hell0 s0llux

I breathed a sigh of relief when she replied, but perhaps a little too early. I told her everything about my 'dream'. Her responses were clipped and hollow, no longer filled with her endearing enthusiasm, nor her welcome insight when it came to these visions. She seemed disinterested, distant. Her replies merely following a standard protocol that I would eventually come to expect as the norm for her.

At the time, I'd just been relieved that she was talking to me. But it soon became clear to me that things wouldn't go back to normal.

TwinArmegeddons [TA] began trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]

TA: WHAT DIID YOU DO?!

AG: Soooooooollux! How are you today?

AG: What did I do? To 8e sure, I have no idea what you mean!

TA: you took control of my miind, diidn't you?! you made me kiill her, you bitch!

AG insisted on being insufferable throughout that whole fucking ordeal. There's a reason I don't fucking talk to her. She had no shame in admitting it in the end, though. I just about flew over to murder her. But I know that it probably would have made me her next victim. It's hard to say when her control affects me and when it doesn't. So I seethed in my rage, glaring at those infuriating blue words on the screen.

I look over at her, now. Her eyes are closed and her face bathed in the soft light of the green sun. It's fucking hot here, but she seems unaffected. Probably some god tier thing. I've missed her, just like I miss FF. They're both important to me, but... There's something special about Aradia. I've known her for so long, how could there not be?

"I'm glad to have you back," I murmur. She looks at me with that brilliant smile of hers.

"What do you mean, Sollux? I've always been here."

"No, no, not that... I mean back alive," I rephrase. Her smile persists as she casts her eyes downwards.

"Yes, and it's nice to be back," she admitted. "And I plan on staying."

"Good," I say quietly. "And I...wanted to apologize, as well. For...For what happened." She moved closer to me, hugging me tightly. I hug her tightly.

"Oh Sollux... I don't blame you for that!" she says into my ear. I close my eyes, relieved. But I only remain for a second, before pulling back with my hands on her shoulders. I meet her gaze.

"Thank you," I say, trying to sound as sincere as possible. I don't thank people often. "Before this goes down... I wanted to say something. Or...Or do something, I guess." She blinked, genuinely curious.

"Okay," she said, in a way that urged me, gave me courage.

I've never done this before, but it felt so right, kissing her. Well, Feferi did kiss me back to life, but that doesn't count. I mean, I was fucking dead! This kiss is short and sweet, but I couldn't have it any other way. I didn't realize lips were so...soft. Or maybe it was just hers. What was that human saying? Shit, KK said something about it... Lips of an angel? Sounds like a sound definition of this kiss, I'd say.

Oh my fucking god I sound like KK when he talks about his fucking romcoms. I can officially be classified with a KK brand of patheticness. Get that branding iron hot so we can stamp 'KK's Pathetic Industries' onto my ass cheek, please and fucking thank you.

I guess we must have looked pretty stupid, floating around, looking at each other without a word to share. AA breaks the silence by gasping, her face alit with renewed excitement.

"They're coming!" she says excitedly, pointing towards the green sun.

She moved forward to watch the figures rise from the sun, clearly not trolls, but almost certainly god tiers. One looks like a total dork, but I guess you could say the other is...pretty. Fuck, I'm such a prick. I _just_ kissed AA and I'm already calling someone else PRETTY! What the fuck is wrong with me? I'm such a fucking ass!

That's when AA points something else out. The meteor was coming at us, and fast. The next thing I know, we're standing on the top of the damn lab and KK's looking at me like I just fucking came back from the de- Oh shit there's my body. Jegus, AA wasn't kidding when she said that they were bringing it. What the hell is with this half dead bullshit, anyways? Even I don't understand and I'm the one it fucking happened to!

Oh god. Is she still going on about that damn corpse party bullshit? I mean, FUCK. That is kind of morbid. Like, shit, it's nice to see her back to her enthusiastic self but this is just borderline creepy. I tell her that she's probably creeping everyone out, but who am I kidding because she totally _is_ and there's just no fucking question about it, much less a fucking 'probably'.

Okay, Tez seems pretty cool with it but she's a little fucked in the head so I'm just going to ignore that. Oh good, they're talking about AA's godhood now. Something about pixies and fairies and other fake bullshit. I guess she is pretty cute in it... Aaaaand they're back to the death thing. Honestly, what is wrong with these people.

KK's speaking, so I decide to tune out because that's just the natural fucking thing to do when he starts his bitching. Hey, isn't that Gamzee? I don't even want to know what happened to his murderous fucking rampage... Oh okay, I guess I'll kind of watch him drag my body away. How does no one else notice this? I'm not going to speak up because then KK will just start his shit all over again.

I tune into the conversation right around when people are actually talking sense. And by sense I mean the human's blabbering about her seer-y shit. She's pointing somewhere.

"What's that way?" I break in.

"Nothing whatsoever."

_Oh, well isn't that fucking great?_ I think irritably as she goes on to tell us some shit about uncertainty and darkness.

I pretty much tune out for the rest of the conversation except for, like, one or two things that I'm not going to even mention bothering. Things are wrapping up, now. And AA's just announced that she's not going to go with the others. My decision is immediate.

"Yeah, you know what, I think I'll be hanging behind here, too," I announce, going to stand beside AA. "If that's okay with you guys."

Who am I shitting? They can't make me stay. I've lost AA... Aradia once, and I'm not going to go without her again. Even if that means staying here in the afterlife. Plus, to be honest, I think I'm done with all this bullshit. I just...want to relax, now. Maybe if I stay here I'll see Feferi and the others again. Yeah... That would be nice.

Soon after, we bid the others farewell and send them on their way. Not before that hilarious charade when that bucket hit KK in the face. That is just the dirtiest shit right there, I felt like I was watching some fucked up pornography. You really can't unsee that kind of thing. I feel kind of sorry for the guy. Or I would, if his ensuing mental break down hadn't been funny as hell, too.

"Thank you for coming with me, Sollux," AA says to me graciously once we're alone. I shrug, hopefully as nonchalantly as possible.

"Look, AA, I lost you once... I didn't really want to lose you again," I mutter. Oh my god that was terrible, can I just take that back now? FUCK.

But to my eternal surprise, she grabs my hand.

"I didn't want to part with you either."

I hug her, and vow to never let her go again.


	4. What Makes Us

**Damn, I am on a role. Since no one gave me a request, I let the creative juices flow. I hereby present you Dave and Terezi, with a smidgen of Karkat sqeezed in. Please send me requests, I am willing to write about just about anything, really! Romance, fluff, feels, I am all for it.**

**Summary: The journey has begun and everyone is in for a long three years ahead of them on the meteor. And that meant three long years of Karkat's bitching. After fleeing to the roof to escape the angry troll's prejudices, a dream bubble reveals just how enamored Terezi has become with the resident coolkid.**

**WARNINGS: Swearing because Karkat and Dave.**

* * *

**What Makes Us**

Terezi stuck around him a lot after they got on the meteor. He couldn't say that he didn't enjoy her company, though, because he definitely did. Apparently one day was enough time for them to get really close. Things were weird, though. The meteor was weird. And seeing her for the first time was perhaps the weirdest. And now they were going to be stuck here for three years. Boy, was he looking forward to _that._

Karkat had already run down into the lab's confines after his mental breakdown, perhaps to continue it or something. Rose and Kanaya were chatting in a way that only those two fucking could, the Mayor was doing something weird with cans and chalk, and that left him and Terezi to their own devices. This was a pattern that continued for days, whatever days were anymore, until the crabby troll finally emerged from his cave.

He'd been putting together some sick beats after alchemizing all the stuff he'd had back in his apartment and setting it up when Karkat approached, anger coming off of him in waves. Though he hadn't known him face to face for very long, Dave already knew that this was pretty much the norm.

"Hey, fuckass!" A traditional Karkat greeting, if he'd ever heard one.

"No thank you," he quickly brushed off the intrusion, returning to his newest creation. God DAMN, this shit was good.

The angry troll's response to that, though, was to slap his hand done on the power button. Whether on purpose or by accident, it served to gain Dave's attention. He gave Karkat a tiny frown. He wasn't one to lose his shit and fly off the fucking handle when something small went wrong. Or even when something big went wrong. This situation would be dealt with smoothly with sarcasm and irony, just as any situation should be handled.

"Don't worry, I wasn't fucking doing something with that. It's not like you erased some of the sickest fucking beats there is." Dave uses sarcasm. Karkat is enraged.

Karkat uses scornful comeback, "The only thing fucking sick around here is me, sick to my stomach because all I see is fucking cross species make outs! Do you know how fucking disgusting that is?!" Scornful comeback wasn't very effective.

"Dude, calm down. I don't think anyone has even kissed here. Yet." Dave uses logic. Karkat's rage is building!

"Shut the fuck up! I can see the fucking writing on the walls! If I was a fucking seer all I would see is your sloppy fucking make outs! I'm surprised everyone wasn't looking at Skaia during our session wondering why the fuck they were kissing ugly pink pieces of shit!" Karkat uses shout. Karkat's voice raised tremendously! Dave appears unaffected.

"Okay that's kind of gross. You know I'm imagining you kissing a literal, pink piece of shit, right?" Dave counters with hilarious thought.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Oh no, Terezi has intervened!

"Nothing!" Karkat uses ability: terrible lying. "Just some man to fucking man talk!" The ability has no effect, Terezi can smell deceit!

"Karkat's flipping his shit about kisses and also making us sound gay at the same time because I guess he's in hate love with me or something. I think he wants to kiss you, too, Terezi," Dave put forth. Maybe that would distract this bastard long enough for him to reboot his stuff and tune them out using the mighty power of cranked volume and thick earphones.

"Oh really?" Terezi cackled. "Can't get enough of me?" she purred. Yeah, he didn't want to know the story behind that. Karkat was flushing like a motherfucker, now, too.

"Shh, shhhh..." He placed a finger over his and Terezi's mouths. "Not with that son of a bitch sitting right there!"

"I really don't give a shit," Dave moaned. "I'm going back to my beats."

"Wait, Dave! A dream bubble is coming up and I was wondering if you wanted to come on the roof with me!" Terezi said before he could follow through with it. Dave barely thought on it.

"Okay, sure." He began to stand up. Karkat roughly shoved him back into his chair.

"No! Fucking no!" he screeched. "This is exactly why I came here! This cross species bullshit isn't going to work out and you _both_ fucking know it!"

"Jegus, Karkat, Dave wasn't kidding. What has you so strung up anyways?" Terezi said, clearly getting annoyed. "What business is it of yours to decide what any of us do!"

"Well, for fucking one, I'm the fucking leader!" he snapped.

"No you're not! Aradia said so herself that there was no need for leaders anymore!" she protested. "Plus, even if you were, this _still_ doesn't concern you! Why don't you go meddle with someone else?"

"I'm trying to protect you!" he yelled, looking desperate.

"I don't need protecting!" she yelled back. "This isn't even about cross species relationships! You're just jealous of us because you lost your chance!" Karkat looked like he'd been struck.

"I don't know what you're fucking talking about..." he said weakly. Terezi had already grabbed Dave's hand and dragged him away. The human saw fit not to pry, though. This was obviously Terezi's shit, not his.

They got to the roof, where they sat on the edge and watched, or smelled, the approaching bubble. With Terezi commenting at one point that it smelled like skittles, which apparently was also a troll thing. He wasn't going to question the logic of universal constants, though. He figured that this was due to the bubble's rapidly changing colours that he could see if he peeked over his sunglasses a little.

"I'm sorry about that," she sighed at one point. The bubble was nearly upon them. "It probably wasn't something that needed to be yelled in front of you."

"Nah, it's fine," he replied with a shrug. "Karkat's got issues, I already knew that."

"Well, it's not just that..." She laughed a little, a bit sadly as well. "Actually, I think Karkat's the most stable of us all. We're all kind of...crazy, I guess, in our own ways. If I think about it, Karkat's the most normal. But that's not the point. I suppose you could say I started this whole thing, even though I didn't really know what I wanted.

"I still like him, you know," she continued, taking his silence as encouragement to continue at her leisure. "But I like you more," she admitted. "And ever since I started this he's just been giving me these mixed signals. Sometimes I think he's going red and sometimes I think he's going black and I'm just really confused by the whole thing." Dave shrugged.

"Can't say much. I still don't understand the whole quadrant thing."

"And I can't expect you to," she said with a nod. "But let's leave it as this: Four quadrants makes things four times more confusing. I even wondered at a moiralleigance at one point!" she exclaimed. "It's kind of ridiculous, but I think...he kind of wants it all ways, and I just can't do that. I'm afraid it doesn't work like that."

"Yeah, I'll take your word for it," Dave agreed. "Sounds like he's a greedy bastard to me."

"More like he's trying to shoot for the impossible," she chuckled. "Which, I suppose, is no different than what's he's always done. I blame it on his blood colour. He got the stubborn fuckhead gene along with all that other weird stuff."

"I thought you liked weird."

"I love weird!" she exclaimed. "Oh Dave, I thought you knew me better than that!" she cackled.

"How fucking thoughtless of me," he said, cracking a tiny smirk. "I was keeping the conversation going like a normal fucking person. Isn't that what normal people do? Should I stop and just not reply? Take a vow of motherfucking silence and sew my mouth shut?"

"But Dave," she purred, leaning closer, "if your mouth was sewed shut, wouldn't it be harder to do...this?" She closed the distance to capture his lips in hers.

The kiss really came as no surprise. Karkat had been right about one thing, the writing had indeed been on the walls. It wasn't long before she was on top of him, though, grinning down. His sunglasses had been sent flying by her roughness, and he screwed his eyes shut. He could hear the annoyed frown on her lips when she spoke.

"You still won't let me see your eyes?" she said, put out.

"Why do you want to see them so bad, anyways?" he demanded.

"I want to know their colour!" she exclaimed. "I want to know what they smell like!"

"Fuck, how often do you hear that? 'I want to know what your eyes smell like'," he muttered.

"Please, Dave! I promise I won't lick them!" she said with a grin. "You wouldn't let me taste your blood, so I can't I see your eyes instead? All we trolls have are dusty old grey that makes me sneeze, at least until we get older!"

"Ugh, fine," he relented, opening his eyes a slit. It was weird seeing the world without his shades. Things were so much more vibrant and colourful. He grimaced when Terezi came in close, sniffing him. "Fuck, Terezi, what the fuck are you even doing?"

"Your eyes smell like a hot, burning fire, Dave!"

"Do you just have this disorder where you have to say my name every time I speak?"

"Your name is cool. Did you know that we don't have any names like that on Alternia, Dave? All we get is the boring names," she lamented.

"Right because Dave is the life of the fucking show," he said sarcastically.

"Are you intimidated because our names are longer? I know you are," she purred.

"What? Where the fuck did that even come from? And why the fuck would I be intimidated?"

"Two whole extra letters, I'm not sure you can handle it, cool guy!" she replied with a grin.

"That doesn't even make any fucking sense," he sighed. "My last name has six letters, dumbass."

"Don't be intimidated by our superior intelligence, Dave," she purred. "Not every species can be blessed with are amazing brains."

"The Mayor's smarter than you bunch of dumbfucks," he scoffed. She gasped.

"Don't bring the Mayor into this, Dave! Did you know he likes red? He has exquisite taste!" she said in a voice filled with mock insult.

"What the fuck am I looking at."

They both looked up in surprise to see Dave. Dream bubble Dave. Alternate universe Dave. A Dave that wasn't the Dave that was currently being sat on by a Dave loving troll. Terezi swallowed hard when her nose caught scent of his green suit. The Dave that had been killed by Jack while trying to obtain god tier. Of course, red Dave did not know this. Red Dave scrambled for his lost glasses, quickly replacing them despite the fact that it was still him that had come and it probably didn't really matter.

"So I come onto this weird ass meteor wondering what the fuck is up and all I see is myself and some fucking alien getting it on. Jesus, that's probably Terezi, isn't it? Why am I not fucking surprised," green Dave moaned.

Before either Dave could say anymore, Terezi leapt to her feet and fled the roof. Red Dave watched her go with the tiniest of frowns. He got to his feet and brushed himself off, fixing his glasses, which had been left askew, before meeting the gaze of green Dave through a double layer of sunglasses.

"Smooth move," he said.

"How the hell was I supposed to know she was going to run off?" green Dave said, sounding a little more bitter than Daves usually did. "I don't even know what I fucking said." He shrugged.

Alpha Dave didn't want to hear anymore. He didn't come onto this meteor to bitch and whine at a bunch of alternate universe Daves like Karkat was clearly prone to. Becoming a giant blubbering asshole wasn't that high up on his list of things to do. Without another word, he went to go search for his friend.

Finding Terezi wasn't actually that hard. She'd already showed him her favourite places on the meteor. He had to go pretty deep, though, and through a lot a frustrating transportalizers to get to her, though. She was sitting with her legs dangling off the ledge, wrapped in the red dragon cosplay she'd shown him just the other day.

"Yo, T-Z," he called. She didn't turn. He could hear her sniffling. He sat down beside her, admitting to himself that he didn't know why she'd reacted this way either. "Hey, what's up?" he asked, letting his tone soften a little.

"He -sniff- didn't say?" she murmured.

"Uh, no. Say what?" he replied. She was quiet for a good long time, but if had anything it was definitely patience.

"He was the Dave that went back," she finally said. "The one who went to your quest cocoon to become a god tier. J-Jack -sniff- ... Jack killed him... And... And I just watched him do it..."

She turned away while he just frowned. Well, it explained green Dave's bitterness. He supposed. It didn't really sound like him to be bitter, that wasn't how he rolled. Although dieing could change a person, he wasn't going to deny that. Even someone like him.

"Okay, so?" he urged. She frowned at him.

"I killed you, Dave," she sniffled.

"Doesn't look like it. I'm sitting right here talking to you, right? Dead people don't do tha... Never mind, forget that last part. You get my point, though." She nodded and he reached over to wipe her tears away. "Hey, I thought coolkids didn't cry."

"You think I'm cool?" she asked in a small voice.

"No shit." She hugged him.

"Thank you, Dave!" she said happily. He smirked. Damn was he good.

"Come on, let's go draw comics or something. Forget the stupid bubble," he suggested. She nodded.

"Okay."


	5. Motherfucking Nightmares, Brother

**I first found out that Gamzee had red feelings for Tavros on Homestuck wiki, while I was skimming through for one reason or another. I took another look at there conversations to confirm this for myself. At first I was a little iffy about it, but I have soon come to love drunk!GamzeeXTavros! And although this isn't exactly romantic, I find this little drabble to be quite charming, if a bit eerie and foreboding in the start.**

**I repeat, put any requests for pairings in the reviews! ^^ I'm willing to write just about anything, romance or otherwise!**

** Firefly264: Your suggestion comes after this one!**

**WARNINGS: Creepiness, kind of scary, and swearing.**

* * *

**Motherfucking Nightmares, Brother**

Tavros often found that he was able to walk in his dreams, a freeing change from his restricting four wheeled device. But he also found that, sometimes, he was able to walk in his nightmares, as well, deceiving him to their true nature.

Usually his nightmares consisted of being trapped in his device while the fairies floated around his head, taunting him. He would soon be dragged from his chair and thrown off a nearby cliff. Oftentimes this horrible repetition of that terrible day would cater to a dreadful fear of heights, but he maintained the hope that he would one day fly and refused such fears. Perhaps it was the only thing he could do with the utmost confidence.

Today's dream, though, was vastly different. He 'awoke' in a dark home, in which he had been sleeping on the floor, for some reason. He couldn't help the involuntary shiver that travelled up his spine. The floor was rather cold, and the room he was in was very lifeless. Sitting up, he could see that it was barren, save for a single door opposite his position, one that silently begged to be opened.

He stood up, but, rather than go for the door, he made for the window. Or, rather, the hole in the side of the room. He hesitantly looked out, but was met by a void. Normally, the dark wouldn't scare him. He had lived in it all his life, the life of your average troll. But this darkness was dreadful, foreboding. It hid a foulness that threatened to drag him down with it.

Never before had he a dream like this.

The door continued to beckon, and with shaking hands that could not resist the urge, he opened it into a hall way. It went on for about 10-15 feet before turning to the left. It had no windows and was rather plain, save for the inky darkness that lay in wait in the corner, hissing its welcome. He might have closed the door and refused to venture inside if it weren't for the fact that he really had no control over his dreams. He was a bystander to this cinematic and his subconscious now drove him forth.

The hallway led to an open room, one not much wider than the hallway itself. To the right was a desk that took up most of the tiny room. There was a figure crouching beside the desk, though. Hands over their head grabbing fistfuls of wild hair. Tavros breathed a sigh of relief at the familiar figure. He rushed over to Gamzee, a smile coming to his face.

"Gamzee!" he said, coming to crouch by his friend. "Do you, um, know where we are?" he asked hesitantly.

Gamzee's head slowly turned to appraise him. Tavros flinched away when he saw not the happy, laid back expression his friend usually wore, but rather a deep frown, one that seemed unnatural and frightening. His eyes were closed, and the fudge blooded troll wasn't sure he wanted to see his friend open them.

"Uh, um, Gamzee...?" he ventured quietly, with no small amount of fear in his tone. "Why...Why are you frowning like that?"

"Would you like me to motherfucking smile, brother?" Gamzee inquired. His mouth moved slowly when he spoke, even though the words came out normally. His lips continued to move even after the sentence was completed.

"I...I don't know. If you, um, want to frown, then you can, um, you can frown," Tavros stuttered. Gamzee's head slowly turned away.

"I'm sorry I don't smile enough for you, brother," he apologized, his lips moving in that same, eerily slow fashion.

"Uh, no, it's f-fine," Tavros said quickly.

"No, brother. I've let you down."

His movements were slow, as if moving through molasses. He brought his hands down from his head and pulled a knife from his sleeve. Tavros immediately got to his feet and stumbled back a few steps.

"G-Gamzee?" he whispered fearfully.

For a few seconds, it was horrifyingly quiet. Yet Tavros could see Gamzee's knife arm moving, slowly and deliberately. Finally, the purple blood stood and turned to look over his shoulder, his head moving unnaturally while the rest of his body was still. The fudge blood stared at the head turned around completely to face him, with no small amount of sickening cracks and crunches.

Blood poured from the wounds on his friend's face, two deep cuts trailing from the corners of his mouth to create a smile that went ear to ear. When Gamzee gave him a toothy grin, the entire length of his new smile was filled with sharp fangs. His eyes were open, now. There was nothing but the same void he had seen outside the house in the sockets.

"G-Gamzee, stop..." Tavros said, backing away until his back hit the wall when the rest of Gamzee's body turned to join the head. "You're s-scaring me."

"Do you not like my smile, brother?" Gamzee asked sadly, slowly walking closer.

"Um, uh, no, I-"

"I'm sorry I can't make you happy, brother," the purple blood continued.

He didn't quite know where the needle had come from, but suddenly Gamzee was slowly and carefully sewing the cuts shut. The grin remained, though, stained with purple blood as he moved to the other side. He then closed his eyes, sewing them shut, as well. He dropped the needle and thread and padded closer.

"Is this better, brother?"

"No! No, Gamzee! Stop!" Tavros yelled. "P-Please stop, this is really scaring me!" It was as if he couldn't hear him, moving closer at a painfully slow pace.

Finally, his body seemed to respond and he turned and ran for the first room. The longer he ran, though, the longer the hallway became until the door at the end was completely out of sight. It began twisting and distorting, colours leeching into it from the corners. No, not colours. That was blood, troll blood.

"I think you need to calm the motherfuck down," Gamzee sneered, looming over him from above. He continued to run, brown tears leaking from his eyes. The subjuggulator kept easy pace. "Why are we all up and getting our scare on, brother?"

HONK.

Suddenly, he tripped over his own foot, tumbling downwards when the floor opened up for him.

honk.

He was falling at a frightening rate, twisting and turning mid air. "Fly, Pupa, fly!" the creatures screamed in Vriska's voice.

HONK.

When he screamed his reply, nothing came out.

honk.

The void was closing in, the creatures of the dark drawing close with cackling laughter.

HONK.

"Noooooooo!" Tavros screamed, finding his voice just as he landed.

honkHONKhonkHONKhonkHONKhonk.

A pile of horns, what was a pile of horns doing here? Tavros pulled himself free. There was a circle of light illuminating him and the pile. He looked up to try and see the source, but had to squint because of the bright light. Finally he looked away, unable to discern where it was coming. Everything past the light was impenetrable darkness.

"Gamzee?" he called into the darkness. Hoping and at the same time fearing that he was nearby.

"Wake up, motherfucker," a voice whispered.

"I can't!" he yelled back. "Where are you?"

"Right here," the voice soothed. "You need to all up and get your awakeness on, motherfucker. You're having a nightmare."

When he opened his eyes, they were assaulted by the light from a nearby window. It was not yet nighttime. He had fallen asleep on the floor, with a warm body at his back. He wasn't afraid; Gamzee had come over last night for some fiduspawn and awesome Alternian rap battles. He didn't visit often, but when he did he usually stayed for a few days after forgetting that he should be going home.

Gamzee was still asleep. Tavros had been sure that he was awake and telling him to wake up from his nightmares. He shuddered. That nightmare was certainly one of his worst yet. He painstakingly pushed himself into a sitting position, pretty sure that he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep that day. Instead, he reached for a nearby book on his desk, one that Gamzee himself had given to him.

It wasn't Pupa Pan, his favourite, but most certainly his second move beloved book. It told of great trolls from centuries ago, including the Grand Highblood, who Gamzee claimed was his ancestor. The purple blood had pointed out a winged troll to him as well, known as the Summoner. Having been blessed with this odd mutation, the Summoner was able to fly. Gamzee had promised him that this was his ancestor, and the trolls were destined to follow in their footsteps.

Tavros wasn't sure to what extent he believed in the concept of ancestors. Karkat had insisted that they were just another way for nobles to glorify themselves, but he was an overall skeptic in most things. He already believed in being able to fly, so why not the ancestors? Sometimes, when he thought of Rufio, he put the Summoner's face to his invisible friend.

He opened to the page where it told of the Summoner, and how he killed his matesprit, the great pirate Marquise Mindfang Spinneret. Apparently he did a great many things in his short fudge blood life time. Commanded a great army of beasts, became leader of the Cavalreapers, and won their undying loyalty, as well. He was everything that Tavros wished he could be, the embodiment of confidence itself.

The Summoner even had an honourable death, dying in a revolution against the Highbloods. Usually, these stories were banned to prevent a repeat of that, but the higher blood castes were generally able to get there hands on stuff like that. Gamzee, with his little regard for the traditions that the higher castes followed, had no problems giving up this particular book, though. Tavros was glad, for he had read it many a time.

He closed his eyes and remembered the days when he'd been able to walk and would visit Gamzee at his own hive. One night, his friend had pointed out the many constellations in the sky, telling him stories of the Summoner and the Grand Highblood. Sometimes Tavros wondered why the others thought him to be such a fool, for at times Gamzee could seem wise beyond his years.

Well, that is, in his own silly, stonerfied way.

"What's up, my brother? Did you finally up and get your awakeness on and stop all having those bad dreams?" a drowsy voice suddenly asked.

"Oh, uh..." Tavros turned to look at Gamzee lying on the floor, looking back him, hesitating for a second. "You were asleep. How, um, did you know I was having nightmares?"

"Fuuuuuuuck," the troll drawled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He then gave the crippled troll a lazy smile, hazy eyes still clouded from the effects of his sopor slime pies. Sleep had messed up his face paint a little. "I was all up in your tower, man. You were sleeping so I decided to watch over you and all and I saw you were having bad dreams. Didn't want to watch you all tossing and turning and getting your motherfucking scare on so I up and woke you up."

"Oh," he didn't really understand that, "thank you, I think," but regarded it as a kind gesture, all the same.

"Let us crack into some of the wicked elixir, my miracle brother," Gamzee continued. "I'll even bake up some of my best motherfucking pie for you to chase those bad dreams all up and out of that think pan of yours." Tavros gave him a weak, but grateful smile.

"I, uh... Thank you, Gamzee."


	6. Siblings?

**A little...thing. I don't even know what I was thinking, writing this! XD Just a little thing. I can write something better if you don't like it, Firefly! ^.^'**

**Summary: Rose and Dave take a little break from the main storyline, only to be interrupted by AH himself!**

**WARNINGS: Stupidness. Minor swearing. More stupidness.**

* * *

**Siblings?**

It was nice to get away from the main story every once in a while to relax. All that chaos and bullshit and trolls. Oh god, the trolls. They were the absolute worse. But right now Dave wasn't thinking about that. Just the pretty blond on the couch with him. Rose Lalonde, also known as the snarky broad.

"I must admit, Strider, you're quite smooth with the ladies," Rose commented, giving him a tiny smirk, nothing less than expected of her.

"Smoother than a baby's bottom," he agreed.

"Isn't that supposed to be soft?" she deadpanned. He rolled his eyes from beneath his dark glasses.

"Who the fuck cares?" he groaned. She chuckled a little.

"I will never understand your insisted ignorance on the most common of metaphors. Is this some sort of ironic thing?" she questioned.

"Maybe," said he with a shrug, for maximum 'I don't give a shit' effect. She leaned a little closer.

"Maybe?" she echoed.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

Before they could lean any closer, someone sprung up from behind the couch. Whoever it was slapped their hands on their foreheads, pushing them away from each other abruptly. All Dave could see was weird orange skin and a guy that looked like a shitty drawing. His lip drew back in a sneer and he grabbed the hand, pulling it away.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"This is somewhat private," Rose added.

"It doesn't matter who I am! Just know that you can't kiss!" he yelled.

"May I inquire as to why you're so insistent about that?" Rose sighed.

"Because if you do, I will collapse this whole fucking universe down on you!" he growled. "I am your creator! I am your _fucking god_! I am the whole reason you fucking exist for the entertainment of internet junkies everywhere! I am your one connection to this precious thing called 'reality', I hope you know that!"

"Um, what?"

"Because you," pointing at Rose, "go with her!"

"Kanaya?" she said in surprise, turning to look at the young troll. When did she get here?

"And also, you're probably a lesbian," he added. "And you," pointing at Dave, "go with her!"

"Hi, Dave!" Terezi said, grinning widely at him.

"Yo."

"Surely that's not the only reason...?" Rose ventured as he began shoving all of them towards the giant, broken window.

"Oh yeah," he said, pausing a second to look up in thought. "You're also genetic sibling. Now get out!" he growled. Rose and Dave exchanged wide eyed looks.

"Siblings?"


	7. Make Your Move

**This was very late, and I'm really sorry about that. :/ I got stuck on a certain part, but fortunately a friend helped me out and I've finally completed it! Still accepting suggestions, by the way. ^^**

**SPOILERS: This is a story based on the most recent updates of Homestuck! If you are not up to date, there are heavy spoilers here! You have been warned!**

**Summary: Aranea was never meant to be here, she was never meant to come back. Everyone's dead now, except for a select few. Would it be pointless to avoid the clown as he hunts down the rest of the survivors?**

**Warning: Blood, violence, and it's really kind of sad.**

* * *

**Make Your Move**

It was all over. They were dead, the new matriorb destroyed. Only the two of them remained. Kanaya looked down at Karkat's body, both saddened and disgusted, the latter due to a hunger she could neither control nor suppress. Her eyes turned upwards to rest on the face of the one who had doomed this timeline to utter damnation, and all for a silly wish revolving around her narcissism.

Her eyes narrowed, and her gripped tightened on the handle of the chainsaw. Aranea, on the other hand, merely looked horrified. Kanaya had never seen reason to hate her before. Sure, she was a bit chatty, but held a sort of innocence about her that seemed entirely good-natured. At least until she had not only murdered Jade before her very eyes, a fellow Space player and good friend, but also many of her other friends all while claiming that she was doing this for their own good.

It was never supposed to go like this. Her arrival had surely doomed this timeline, there was nothing else to say about it. There was one thing she did know, though. Even if they were all doomed, there was one thing she would not fail to do. Aranea's death would be at her hands. She would see the teeth of her blade hacking into that grey flesh soon enough, that delicious blue blood flowing from her veins, lapping it up, breathing in its scent...

Shit, she was getting side tracked. Stupid rainbow drinker thoughts.

"M-Maryam!" Aranea said as Kanaya stepped over Karkat's body, revving the chainsaw. Her eyes widened fearfully and she raised her hands. "I know what you're thinking, but I can fix this! I can bring them back, I swear!"

"If your discontent had not urged you to take that ring, they would not be dead in the first place," Kanaya growled. For every step she took forward, Aranea stepped backwards. Her eyes flitted to the ring on her finger, then back to Kanaya.

"I am a highly skilled Sylph of Light!" she protested, her eyes narrowing into an indignant glare. "And I am perfectly capable of healing this timeline! All I need is time, I swear! Give me the time, and I can save us all!" Her fingertips lit up as she spoke, activating her powers. Kanaya grabbed her wrist, movements quicker than the eye could track.

"If you heal this timeline, I will personally dismember you and drain you of your blood for a feast," she snarled darkly. Aranea gave her a horrified look.

"Are you insane?!" she hissed. "We'll be doomed if-"

"I would rather be doomed knowing that my friends are still alive in the Alpha Timeline," Kanaya interrupted her, "than alive knowing that all of my friends are dead. I do not care for your abilities, Aranea. Death is beyond your realm. Even that ring is something outside the rules of paradox space."

"You don't understand!" Aranea continued to argue. "Do you know how many billions of sweeps I've had to perfect my powers?! How much time I've had to nurture my gifts and learn everything there is to know about them?! You have no right to say anything, you haven't even come into your full power and you never will. You have no right to tell me what I am and am not capable of!"

"I already said that I don't care what you're capable of. It is your fault that my friends are dead in the first place. I would rather die in this timeline and have them not die at all. So give me one good reason why I shouldn't hack off your arm and kill you- And why that death wouldn't be just at this point, while you're at it."

"I know I've made mistakes," Aranea admitted. "But can't you see I'm trying to make amends? What does it matter if I killed them when I can restore their lives? When I can revive this timeline to make it all the better? It's because of me that Lord English's greatest servant lies dead in the ship that _I_ threw into the lava!

"And when He comes, I know I can defeat Him! And I will revive all of your friends so that they can help! We'll be unstoppable! Every time one of them perishes permanently, I will simply revive them! And should I die, as well, the ring will restore my life easily! You must look beyond the sacrifices of your friends to the greater cause that their deaths helped to bring about!"

"Allow me to put that tirade to an end," Kanaya said, shaking her head. Aranea tried to pull away, realizing that she wasn't going to change her mind, but the drinker's grip tightened. The older troll grunted, wincing in pain. "My mind has been made up."

"No! You cannot do this!" Aranea yelled. "You can't do-"

Her words were cut off as the steel dug into her arm, severing her ring hand from her. Aranea stumbled away with a cry of pain, staring at her arm stump. The blood pouring from it only served to excite the rainbow drinker and she could not help the hungry grin that spread across her face as the chainsaw revved, thirsting for blood. Kanaya was more than happy to oblige.

* * *

Blue blood had the richest of tastes. But when one had sipped upon that of royalty, all other colours tasted dull and unappetizing. Kanaya had actually entertained the thought of seeking out the Condesce's body in her ship to drink her blood, until she realized that she was letting the drinker half of her seep into her mind again. That idea was just plain ludicrous.

She only wished that she could have met with Porrim, her dancestor, more often. She had started teaching her how to deal with these urges, but the visits had been few and far between. Not to mention short and curtailed, for she could wake up at any time. And before any real progress could be made, they had arrived. Well, at least she could control the glow now.

However, she was instead bathed in the warm glow of the still hot lava lake to her left. She didn't spare it a glance, knowing that she would see more dead bodies on the white building that had crashed across the lake. Gamzee had brutally murdered Terezi there. Thinking of that made her realize something, though.

Where was the clown?

Her sharp eyes snapped to the bridge, filled with horror. She could see the stains of thick, purple blood, but not the owner it was bled from. Worse yet, she hadn't brought her chainsaw. She couldn't bear to see the gore left on it from her brutal dismemberment. Despite the fact that the very same gore covered her, anyways. Somehow, that seemed a little more tame, though. Somehow.

At least she knew how she would die, now. She was sure that the clown would soon catch her scent and take care of her like he had done to so many others. Now it was just a matter of deciding whether she preferred being murdered brutally or dying at her own hands. She was doomed, after all. This timeline meant nothing, especially now that Aranea was...double dead, she supposed? But her thoughts were interrupted.

"Kanaya!" No...it couldn't be... The young troll turned, staring at the orange figure stumbling towards her with wide eyes.

"Rose?" she said, dumbfounded, just before she was tackled by the still hungover human. The other pulled away, giving her a tiny smile. It soon disappeared, though.

"My vision's gone," she said. "This timeline is..."

"Doomed," Kanaya finished for her. "I am glad that you are alive, however."

"If it's really doomed, that won't last long," she said. "And Gamzee... I noticed that he's still lurking around." Kanaya's eyes narrowed.

"Have you seen him?" she demanded.

"From afar as he left the bridge," she replied. "I'm not sure where he is now."

"I am sure we will find out soon," Kanaya said darkly. "It may be best to seek him out and give him a fight, if it comes to that. Do you have your strife specibus?" Rose frowned.

"No, not after I gave it to John so he could start the Scratch," she replied. Her eyes drifted to the ship... What to do now, knowing that they would die anyways? "We might be able to gain some time if we go to the ship. Maybe scrounge up a weapon?" Kanaya followed her gaze.

The ship was located back the way she came, half beached on the shore while the back end was in the lava. It seemed dangerous to go, but it may be their only chance if they were going to try and take down Gamzee with them. Maybe they could take the Condesce's strife specibus? It was indeed a viable plan.

"It is better than sitting around and waiting," Kanaya admitted. "Let's go."

* * *

The ship was very quiet and very empty. Occasionally, it would creak and the girls would freeze, listening for possible followers. For the moment, there were no other signs, but neither could they shake the feeling of being watched.

Kanaya was starting to regret their decision to come into the ship when they stumbled upon the Condesce's body. There was blood everywhere, smeared across the walls. Clearly Gamzee's work, but Kanaya couldn't bear to read his warnings. Even if she could, though, she was distracted by her watering mouth. The royal blood smelled absolutely delectable.

"Did you hear that?" She was broken out of her trance when Rose spoke up and was suddenly on the alert. There it was, the faint sound of honking, followed by hysterical laughter. Gamzee was making no attempt to hide his presence.

Kanaya grabbed Rose's hand, leading her towards the nearby duct. The Condesce's specibus was gone and it was already clear whose work that was. The vent was just large enough that they could squeeze in. Hopefully, Gamzee's lanky limbs would be too much for it and he would be unable to follow.

Her only problem was her horns. She wouldn't be able to see where she was going because they would hit the roof if she tried to look up, so she had Rose go first. She could hold onto her ankle so they didn't get separated.

"Is this the best idea?" Rose questioned quietly. Gamzee's honking and laughing had been steady background noise; occasionally loud, occasionally faint.

"I did not want to go back the way we came," Kanaya said. The room had been a dead end. "In case we ran into him."

"Ah, I see the logic in your actions. Perhaps the vents will provide our way out-"

They both froze when the ship shifted, and probably not onto the shore. Kanaya cursed her lack of foresight, she should have seen that the ship was on a precarious angle. Without a word, Rose increased their pace. They shared a silent hope between them that they would escape while Gamzee would not.

But luck was not on their side. As the ship steadily shifted into an angle, Rose began to lose grip and the climb became harder. Finally, she lost her grip altogether and began sliding down, forcing Kanaya to plant her hands on her bottom to stop her from hurting herself on her horns. She might have been embarrassed if she wasn't busy trying to dig her feet into the smooth metal.

Rose managed to catch herself one of the side passages, allowing her companion to brace herself. A lot of careful manoeuvring later, they'd both pulled themselves up into the side passage.

"I believe now is the time for a change of plan," Rose sighed.

"Agreed." The honking was getting louder.

"We head up," the blond haired teen decided, twisting around so she could start making her way up a different vent.

They eventually made their way out into an airlock that led outside. They were at the top balcony of the ship, which allowed them to see the damage. The ship was indeed sinking into the lava; slowly but surely. Occasionally, it would shift a lot, making the entire vehicle shudder and jostle its passengers.

The honking had stopped.

"Do you want me to fly us off?" Rose asked. "We can find a safe place, maybe even get off the planet altogether if we need to."

"you're staying right where you motherfucking are, chicka," a voice said from behind. They both knew who it was and were not surprised when they turned to face Gamzee.

"Then it ends here," Kanaya said. The clown grinned. It was almost melancholy, if one could see past the blatant insanity.

"that's motherfucking right," he said. "MOTHERFUCKING RIGHT, MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Why do this?" Rose said. "We're all doomed, anyways."

"ever thought... IT'S MEANT TO BE LIKE THIS?!" The girls exchanged glances.

"What...do you mean?" Kanaya was almost afraid to ask.

"someone's...GOTTA ALL UP AND GET...their motherfucking shit together...AND CLEAN UP ALL THESE DOOMED TIMELINES."

"You mean..." Kanaya trailed off.

"All this time, you've been going around doomed timelines..._killing_ everyone?" Rose finished for her.

"you got it, chicka," Gamzee chuckled. "YOU MOTHERFUCKING GOT IT. there's one in every motherfucking session...THE MOTHERFUCKER WHO TAKES CARE OF THINGS...when shit all up and hits the whirling devices...SOMEONE'S GOT TO MOTHERFUCKING BE THERE...to make sure the doomed timelines all up and get their doom on...AND I'M HERE TO MAKE ALL THAT DOOM MOTHERFUCKING HAPPEN!"

"Kanaya!" Rose yelled, shoving the troll out of the way when Gamzee lunged.

Kanaya stumbled backwards as her friend was impaled with the trident and lifted high above Gamzee's head before being flung down onto the balcony. The young troll fell to her knees and gathered the teen into her arms. The blood flowed freely through her trembling fingers. She stared at Rose, whose sightless eyes only stared upwards vacantly.

A heroic death.

"so motherfucking predictable..." Gamzee snorted, dreadfully amused. "IT'S YOUR MOVE, CHICKA...make it," he purred.

She gritted her teeth in an angry snarl. If she was going down, then he was most certainly coming with her. She lunged, and even the clown couldn't account for her drinker speed. She made for the trident, but Gamzee was stronger than her. Her bold actions were punished with a trident to the stomach, but she wouldn't be put down so easily.

Through the pain, she grabbed the clown by the collar of his torn up god tier.

"If I die, so do you," she growled before flinging herself off the balcony, clown and all.

The fall stunned them, but Kanaya was the first to recover. She pulled the trident out and held it high above her head, about to impale the clown.

"CLOWN'S DON'T MOTHERFUCKING DIE, CHICKA!" he suddenly yelled, tackling her around the middle.

He managed to bring her to the ship, dangerously close to the lava, but she had planted her feet on his chest. He was trying to wrench the trident from her hands while she tried to find an angle so she could kick him backwards. Suddenly, she pulled the trident back above her head, dug her feet into his stomach, and flung him over top of her and straight into the lava, nearly tumbling in herself.

She rolled onto her stomach and began propping herself up on her hands and knees. Maybe there was a way she could get out of this, that she could live.

A clawed foot landed in front of her and the ship suddenly groaned with the addition of a sudden weight. She slowly looked up, meeting a billiard ball gaze and green grinning skull.

He had come.


End file.
